Tag Archives: jet

Some Raptors Because, Well Why Not?

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The 1st FW at Langley AFB was the source of the Raptor contribution to Red Flag this year.  They weren’t the only F-22s I got to see though.  Some of the based aircraft were busy before and after the Red Flag missions so there was plenty of Raptor action.  Not much of a story to tell on these.  Just a chance to gratuitously show a variety of photos of F-22s because, from the right angle, they look pretty cool!

Reverse Ops While I Am Waiting

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As some recent posts have covered, I made a visit to SFO recently to go up the old tower before it was demolished.  I got to the airport a little ahead of time so had some time along the bay shore awaiting my time slot.  I got some shots of operations while I was there.  The wind was out of the south so reverse operations were in effect which is always an interesting change to things.  The departures to the east are busy and a little different while the arriving jets come closer to you as they touch down and roll out.

The light was a bit subdued but there were a few heavies arriving.  A couple of 747-400s including a Qantas jet and an ANA 777-300ER.  However, the sun did pop out briefly as a Hawaiian A330 departed (presumably for Hawaii).  The sun caught it quite nicely as it climbed and, in the background you could see one of the jets lining up for arrival on the 19s.

Qatar Amiri Flight 747-8 BBJ

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Just a quick post this time.  No big description.  While up the old tower at SFO, the Qatar Amiri Flight Boeing 747-8 BBJ was parked across the runway.  As private jets go, this is pretty well up there.  I haven’t been inside so I don’t know whether it is luxurious but I am willing to bet it doesn’t have a utilitarian feel in there.  I doubt I will get to find out though.

Late Gear Down for One Warthog

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The normal operations at Nellis continue even while Red Flag is on.  The local units try to fly their missions at times that fit between the larger exercises.  A four ship of A-10s launched in the morning and they were recovering shortly before the Red Flag launch.  Rather than run in and break, they flew a straight in approach to runway 21R.  Strangely the first jet came passed and it was still gear up as it came close.  I have no idea whether they were just keeping it late or had got a call from the tower but the gear came down alongside us.  The following three jets were gear down a lot earlier.  Let’s say it was deliberate…

A Couple of Connie’s “Finest”

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Red Flag is a time for lots of military aircraft to do their thing.  However, it isn’t only the military that show up.  Transporting everything that is required to support lots of deploying jets might be done by military transports but it is not unusual for civilian organizations to get some work.  Whether it was Red Flag support or something else, we got to see a couple of 747-400 freighters while we were there.  Both of them came from the same company, Kalitta.

One of the jets was fully painted up and showed up on the approach one day.  It flew a straight in approach and landed to either deposit or pick up some bulky items.  The second jet was a bit different.  First, it was in plane white with just some Kalitta markings.  More importantly, it arrived during a Red a Flag mission.  It ended up holding overhead for a long time while the launch was underway.  Finally they brought them down for an approach.  However, it wasn’t clear which way they would come.  Nellis has a habit of bringing jets in from different ends almost at whim.

At first it looked like they would land on the 21s.  Then they looked like they would go to the other end.  We jumped in the car and headed that way.  Just as we were getting close, the jet turned away and headed east.  We did a quick about turn and followed suit.  We hadn’t gone too far when they reversed course.  Where they deliberately toying with us?  Another quick reversal and we were getting close but now they were turning on to final.  Time ran out and we pulled in to a parking lot by a tire dealership just as it came in to view.  We had to work for that one.

Head to Head With the Aggressors

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Shooting at Nellis always requires choices to be made.  Aside from determining which end you will go to, there is the question about how far up you will go at the Speedway.  Some jets turn very tight, others turn long.  Some departing jets flex, some flex more tightly than others.  Where to go?  Paul and I headed up near Gate 7 to see whether we would do alright.  As it happened, quite a few of the jets were flexing right overhead us.  This didn’t provide the sort of shots we had originally envisaged but, as it turned out, I was rather pleased with the different look.

I was getting some very head on shots of some of the aggressor F-16s as the turned towards the ranges.  There was even a bit of moisture in the air and the vortices over the root extensions were showing up.  That angle has a very dynamic look, even though the lighting in that location is not great for such an angle.  The other benefit was as they had passed overhead.  You got a close look at the top side of the jet from behind as they flew away.  It might not have been what we intended but I was rather pleased with the outcome anyway.

FAA Jets With Extra Bits

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The engineer in me is always pleased by a plane with extra bits added.  This Learjet 60 was departing San Jose.  As it taxied out, you could see a lot of extra probes on the front fuselage and some antennae on the fin.  It is a Federal Aviation Administration jet, hence its abbreviated registration number.  I assume it is used for flight checking services when the performance of things like instrument landing systems is calibrated.  Whatever it does, it has a few added extras compared to the average bizjet.

A Lot More of the Talon Hate

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I got some shots of the Talon Hate jet on a previous visit and posted about it here.  On this trip to Nellis, not only was it very active but it managed to come our way whenever it flew.  Whether it was views of it flexing on departure or tight approaches to bring it passed us on the speedway, it all seemed to work out well.  I love the F-15 anyway but getting this special one was a lot of fun.  I’m sure the wingman in the F-15D knows that the single-seater is the one we are looking at but they certainly made a good effort to be in position for us to get some good shots of them too.  Here are a few of the two of them including a very nice two-ship run in and break.

777 Freighters at O’Hare

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Nothing terribly timely about this post.  These shots were taken quite a while ago during a visit to Chicago.  (At least they are so old that they are from when I lived there.)  There was a time when the 747 was the freighter of choice.  There are still missions for which the 747 is still required but few loads require the nose loading and the most versatile of the big freighters these days is the 777.  (It seems that the 777 is taking over everything that the 747 used to do.)

One afternoon at O’Hare included a couple of 777 freighters.  AeroLogic had one of theirs in town.  I saw it coming in and also got so see it head out again.  I don’t know where it was coming from or going to.  Meanwhile, Air France also had one of their freighters making an appearance.  It’s a shame that the 747 is not so prevalent anymore.  It is a cooler looking jet and the 777 freighter is barely distinguishable from the multitude of 777s on passenger duty.  However, that is the way it is these days.

It is Dark at Nellis During the Night Launch

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On previous trips to Red Flag I have taken pictures of the departing B-1Bs as they fly overhead.  The burners are really impressive and definitely worth getting a shot of from below.  However, having done this a few times, I wanted to try something different.  The fighter get out of burner very quickly after they get airborne.  They are in mil power for ages before they get to you on the centerline.  I wanted to see what you could get from the side a lot closer in so Paul agreed to try something different.

We ended up shooting a lot of side on stuff of departures for the night launch.  Unfortunately, we didn’t appreciate just how dark it is at Nellis at night.  We had a good moon so we were hopeful that there might be some residual light.  It turns out that this is not the case.  Even close in, the fighters are out of burner.  The tankers and the E-7 went out and I got some shots but they were a struggle, event making use of the best high ISO capabilities of the cameras.  The B-1s did show up okay but I still didn’t do as well as I thought I should have.

I learned a bit about the performance of the cameras.  I was shooting at super high ISO settings with the camera wide open.  However, as I review the shots, I realize the camera was behaving in a way that I had not anticipated.  I was shooting in aperture priority with some negative exposure compensation dialed in.  As I look through the shots I see that the camera would start out with a dark shot, gradually boost the exposure and then go dark again.  I would review the shots and see one that was looking good but know that the next would be dark.

When shooting in such limited light, the shutter speeds are very low and the number of lost shots is high.  Therefore, you can’t afford to have the exposure be bad.  I don’t know how many shots I lost since they may not have been sharp anyway but I cut down on my opportunities.  In future, I need to have all of the exposures be acceptable in order to maximize my opportunities.  Therefore, I think I shall have to go fully manual on everything for these shots.  Set ISO up high and then go to manual aperture and shutter speed.  I will still lose a lot of shots but at least I can focus on dealing with my handholding technique rather than worrying about how the camera is metering a dark night.  It’s not too reasonable to expect the camera to get that right every time.  It is a pretty extreme case!